PITTSBURGH, PA - JULY 11: Josh Harrison #5 of the Pittsburgh Pirates has a laugh against the Washington Nationals at PNC Park on July 11, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Pirates will be bringing back and honoring a former Bucco All-Star, as Josh Harrison is set to officially retire as a Pirate.
Harrison was visiting PNC Park in June for the first time since he was there as a visiting player with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2023. In the swirl of emotions and interactions, it was one conversation with owner and chairman Bob Nutting that sparked this reunion for Harrison. Despite not playing for the Pirates since 2018, Nutting made it a point to express his fondness of “JHay” and the time he spent in Pittsburgh.
“Throughout his career, Josh Harrison embodied what it means to be a Pittsburgh Pirate: a gritty, hardworking player, a great teammate and a kind person who was always gracious with his time. He was and remains a cherished member of our organization,” Nutting said. “Josh is incredibly deserving of this celebration, and we look forward to honoring him alongside his family and friends in front of our fans at PNC Park.”
Harrison expressed that while he never thought about it seriously, he was excited at the opportunity to retire with the team that he became a star with.
“It’s not anything I thought much about,” Harrison said. “It’s easy when someone plays for one team their whole career. I played for six. But I know when people talk about my body of work, mostly the Pirates come to mind. “I was never gonna say, ‘Let me retire a Pirate.’ But it’s always cool when it happens naturally and organically. That’s how I wanted it to be.”
JHay said his conversation with Nutting was surprising but was one that he was excited was happening.
“Bob said the Pirates wanted to bring me and my family back and have me retire as a Pirate,” Harrison said. “I was excited. I thought it was pretty cool. “I don’t know how those things work, but when Bob mentioned it, I thought, ‘Oh, yeah. We can definitely make something happen.’”
At this point in his life he Harrison also has the opportunity to bring his family back to the city where he started his major league career.
“The city means a lot to us,” Harrison said. “It’s our home away from home. I had some of my better years in Pittsburgh and grew a lot. That’s where me and my family started. For it to come full circle is really special.”
During his career as a member of the Pirates, Harrison became one of the most electrifying players in baseball. While in Pittsburgh he was named to two All-Star teams and collected 773 hits while hitting .277 with 73 home runs and 91 stolen bases. He had a breakout season in 2014 when he finished second in the NL batting title race with a career high .315 batting average. That season he had 13 home runs and snagged 18 stolen bases. In 2017 as a member of the Pirates, he also represented Team USA at the World Baseball classic when the team won Gold.
2x All-Star 2014 Heart and Hustle Award winner Beloved Bucco 𝐏𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫.
JHay will officially retire as a Pirate on Friday with a corresponding press conference, before being honored on Saturday with a pre-game ceremony, a game-time first pitch and the first 20,000 fans at PNC Park will receive a commemorative T-shirt as a part of the weekend’s celebrations.
Harrison was a key part of the Pirates’ post season run from 2013-2015 and was undoubtedly one of the most exciting Pirates of the 21st century. Very few had the talent that he had to play at five different positions at any given time, while also being one of the most elusive baserunners in baseball. He enjoyed the most success in his career in Pittsburgh and it’s only fitting that Harrison officially retires with the Pirates.
“As a player, you don’t sit there and think about your numbers or what you meant to a city,” Harrison said. “I just kind of lived in the moment.” “But it’s cool to be acknowledged that way. I was just in the right place at the right time with those guys. Pittsburgh gave me an opportunity. I’ll always be a Pirate.”
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BROOKLYN, NY - FEBRUARY 24: Kyrie Irving #11 and Cooper Flagg #32 of the Dallas Mavericks looks on during the game against the Brooklyn Nets on February 24, 2026 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by David L. Nemec/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The NBA recently found itself arguing with a medical journal, and the league office doesn’t usually bother punching down at a sample size of nineteen unless something in the findings stings.
The paper, published late last month in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, examined nineteen NBA players who ruptured an Achilles tendon over the past decade and found that in the ten to fifteen games before the tendon gave, they were logging more minutes than their norm: twenty-nine a night against a season baseline of twenty-seven and a half. The league’s director of sports medicine answered with methodological objections and an internal review that found no such relationship. The authors, to their credit, had listed their own limitations first. Nineteen players. No control group. No causal claims. Patterns “temporally associated” with injury, and nothing more.
The detail worth keeping is quieter than the fight. The injured players’ seasons were ordinary by the measures available: career-normal playing time and career-normal distance. The clearest pattern appeared in the short window before the rupture. Which raises a possibility the paper is careful not to promise: sudden changes in work may matter differently than season-long volume.
That pattern felt uncomfortably familiar in Dallas, where February has been writing Kyrie Irving’s story since the night it delivered him here, and where the story’s fifth chapter already has a time stamp.
What the minutes can prove
Before anyone reaches for a pitchfork, the honest part has to come first. Tearing the Achilles and the ACL are two very different injuries.
In 2017, researchers examined 83 NBA players who tore an ACL across three decades. The players had logged an average of 17.1 minutes in the games in which they were injured, compared with a season average of 23.5. That comparison carries an obvious limitation: a torn ACL tends to end the night. Even so, the narrow finding is worth respecting. Three decades of NBA knees do not support the simplest fatigue story, the one in which a ligament usually gives way only after an unusually heavy night.
The tear itself resists a clean explanation. The research finds firmer ground on the other side of it, where the question becomes what shapes the player who comes back.
A 2025 study followed sixty-seven NBA players through twenty years of ACL tears. Eleven never made it back; those players skewed older and were more likely to have suffered injuries involving more than one ligament. Among the fifty-six who returned, age at the time of injury and greater minutes played before surgery were associated with a larger decline in player efficiency rating. The returners lost about three points of PER while matched healthy controls lost almost nothing, and lower post-return efficiency was associated with less favorable salary movement.
The minutes cannot convict Dallas of the tear. They still belong in the prognosis.
Dallas could not change Irving’s age. It did choose his minutes. But those minutes make sense only inside the relationship that preceded them, one in which Irving kept becoming whatever the franchise needed. By February 2025, as every other plan collapsed, Irving’s willingness to put on a cape and save the season had become a doomed campaign’s last bit of infrastructure.
February 2023: The discount
The Februarys started long before the tear. Dallas traded for Irving on February 6, 2023, sending Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, an unprotected 2029 first-round pick and two seconds to Brooklyn, a price widely read at the time as below market for a player of his gifts. The discount was the risk. He arrived carrying everything the previous few years had attached to him, and that first partial season ended with no playoffs and a partnership still looking for its rhythm.
Sitting in the nosebleeds for Irving’s first Dallas home game, yours truly. Looking at the names in the Mavs box score for that game makes it feel like forever ago. Christian Wood; “people forget about Frank”; and two minutes of JaVale freakin’ McGee.
The incredible fourth-quarter comeback was a sight to behold. Irving spearheaded it with 24 of his team-high 36, only to see a backcourt miscommunication cost the Mavs a chance at a miracle win. The game of hot potato signified two stars, both willing to defer, and, in retrospect, may have been a sign of the great chemistry that was about to develop.
February 2024: The proof
The backcourt rhythm between Dončić and Irving began the 2023-2024 season at a solid level but kicked into high gear in February of 2024. Exactly one year after the trade became official, Irving returned to Brooklyn and scored 36. Dallas went 8-2 in the ten February games he played, with Irving averaging 27.7 points and shooting 55.4 percent from the field. That month offered the first sustained glimpse of the team that would reach the Finals.
2024 showed us how Irving has always been deployed best: as one of the finest championship-level second options the game has ever seen. The backbreaker against stretched-thin defenses. The secondary creator. The closer who entered the fourth quarter with his best fastballs saved for when the game was on the line. We saw all of it that year, and what felt like the beginning of several contending seasons became, tragically, a one-off memory sealed in amber by the inexplicable act that followed.
For the five weeks after Christmas, the carrying job was Irving’s. He missed five games of it himself in early January, first with an illness, then with what the team listed as a lumbar sprain, and returned on January 14 to the same assignment: holding the team together while the franchise player rehabbed and relief was supposedly coming. Then the first weekend of February, Nico Harrison traded the rehabbing franchise player for Anthony Davis, a thirty-one-year-old with an injury file, in a window Harrison insisted existed to win now. The reunion with his friend and backcourt mate, the one Irving had spent a month propping the season up for, never came. What arrived instead was three quarters of his replacement.
Davis debuted February 8, left late in the third quarter with what was later diagnosed as a left adductor strain, and the win-now roster was suddenly a thirty-two-year-old point guard and whatever was left standing.
Sacramento, it turns out, was present at both ends of this.
Run his final ten healthy games through the Achilles paper’s method, borrowed here as vocabulary and nothing more, with the injury game removed from his season baseline just as the paper removed it. That cohort ran about a minute and a half over its norm before rupture. Irving’s baseline was 36.6 minutes; his final ten healthy games came in at 39.3. A jump of 2.7, at 32, with fourteen NBA seasons on the odometer.
The changing job showed even more clearly on February 12. Forty minutes, roughly a third of the team’s possessions, and not a single assist, the night a point guard completed his conversion into a scoring appliance.
Davis returned March 24, three weeks after Irving’s knee gave out while giving all he could to keep the season’s pulse.
February 2026: The accidental mercy of a lost season
One year later, February delivered the opposite order.
So the franchise’s last two Februarys read as a matched set. On February 10, 2025, Dallas wrung 43 minutes and 46 seconds out of him in an overtime loss. On February 18, 2026, it announced that it would ask him for none. The man who spent him and the man he was spent for were both gone before he could possibly have suited up.
Hold the two Februarys next to each other. Desperation overclocked him. A lost season protected him. Neither posture began with the knee. Both began with what the franchise needed.
And by accident, the lost season may be the kindest thing this organization ever did for him. He had reconstruction surgery on March 26, 2025; by the time the regular season opens he will be nearly nineteen months removed from it, in his second postoperative season by the calendar. The research on NBA comebacks puts the average return at about a year, then half a season of availability, then something resembling the old self in year two. The second postoperative season is the point at which one NBA cohort’s average efficiency had recovered to its preinjury level. That is encouraging context, not a promise. His first season back will still be his first season back.
Two things about his time here can be true at once. When Dallas traded for him, the fear was what he would do to a locker room. That fear inverted so completely it became the best thing about him, and anyone who watched the 2024 Finals run knows it. It kept inverting through the lost season. Dallas Sports Journal reported watching him run footwork drills and post sessions with Cooper Flagg in practice while injured. Flagg told ESPN that Irving “stepped in as a great vet for me” during the stretches of a 26-56 rookie season that shook him. Irving’s review of the kid: “He’s chasing history.”
The more immediate answer will be written in his minutes, his back-to-backs, and how often a young offense makes him the emergency exit. For the fifth February in a row, the month will force Dallas to declare what it needs from him. Whether Ujiri and Schmitz fill the blank with a trade, a protected role, or another emergency will tell you whether the new regime learned anything from the Februarys it inherited.
Irving is the last headliner from the last Dallas team anyone fully believed in.
Orthopedists use a questionnaire built around joint awareness after ACL reconstruction. Its ideal is a knee that recedes from consciousness. The feeling of being on autopilot. An afterthought, merely part of the intended athletic motion.
All season, the league will be noticing. The minutes. The back-to-backs. The first hard plant in traffic in a January game that does not matter.
Five seasons, five Februarys
There is a reason this calendar frame feels personal.
My first long-form piece asked readers to savor the season back in 2022, no matter how it unfolded. Kyrie Irving arrived less than four months later. Four Februarys into this role, every one has become a Kyrie chapter. The fifth is already waiting on the calendar.
And, if we are honest, the redemption arc setup was likely the only door through which he could have arrived in Dallas blue. Without the Brooklyn COVID-era drama, there is no trade, certainly not at that price. Dallas has rarely been the city top-tier stars choose in July. It became the city that answered the phone that February in 2023.
I do not know whether he will be a Maverick past February 11, and anything beyond speculation would be dishonest. What I know is what this season offers: a new front office, a new coach, a young roster worth being curious about, and the possibility that basketball in Dallas may feel exploratory, riveting, and fun again. Somewhere inside it is a thirty-four-year-old guard on a rebuilt knee, approaching the fifth February of a ballad that has given this franchise everything it asked for.
Four Februarys asked something different of Kyrie Irving: arrive under suspicion, prove the wager, carry the wreckage, accept the shutdown. He answered each one.
The fifth February will give Irving and the Dallas Mavericks the chance to decide how they can best help each other…one more time.
Basketball: NBA Finals: Boston Celtics Bill Russell (6) in action, rebound vs Los Angeles Lakers. Game 7. Boston, MA 4/18/1962 CREDIT: Walter Iooss Jr. (Photo by Walter Iooss Jr. /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X8418 )
NBA history spans 80 seasons, and as CelticsBlog readers well know, the Boston Celtics have won a league-high 18 championships. This month, we are recapping each of those title years.
If the Boston Celtics were ever going to have their championship streak broken, 1962 was the year. Playing just two playoff rounds doesn’t sound too demanding, until you look at the details.
First, you play your biggest rival, led by a 7-foot-1 behemoth who averaged a 50-piece during the regular season. Also, a brawl breaks out in Game 5. In the second series, you face a superstar duo that averages 70 points per game. One of those two stars hits you with a Finals-record scoring performance. Both series go to Game 7, and both of those are in doubt until the final buzzer.
Was it too easy to win a title back then? Doesn’t seem like it.
<p>Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics takes the hook shot over Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(Photo by TPLP/Getty Images)</span></p> | Getty Images
The regular season
The schedule was increased from 79 to 80 games, which gave the Celtics a chance to win an extra game. So they did, compiling a 60-20 record, the best in league history to that point. They built a 23-3 record during the first two months and closed the season winning 13 of their last 15.
Bill Russell earned his second straight Most Valuable Player award and third overall, but again was second team All-NBA behind Wilt Chamberlain. The Dipper certainly had the stats, scoring an astounding 50.4 points per game and pulling down 25.7 rebounds nightly. Free-throw shooting was normally his Achilles heel, but this season he made career highs of 10.4 makes on 17.0 attempts for 61.3%. Chamberlain even averaged 48.5 minutes per game, with the extra .5 coming from overtime periods.
For the Celtics, Bill Sharman had retired but Sam Jones was more than ready to take his place. Sam’s minutes and production had increased each season, and in this fifth year of his career he averaged 18.4 points and was named an All-Star. In the postseason, Sam rose to 20.6 ppg.
Filling Sharman’s roster spot, Auerbach signed Carl Braun, a 6-foot-5 veteran guard and five-time all-star who’d been with the New York Knicks for 12 seasons and made the Finals just once. Braun played sparingly but was reliable and filled a need. This type of player acquisition was a habit for Auerbach, with good results.
Eastern playoffs
By winning the Eastern Division for the sixth consecutive season, Boston had its sixth straight first-round bye before meeting the rival Warriors. The series schedule alternated between each city, and as common back then, the home team prevailed each time. The Celtics won blowouts in Games 1 and 3 while the Warriors grabbed close wins in Games 2 and 4. The crucial Game 5 was set for Boston Garden.
The Warriors weren’t intimidated, and the result was several pushing matches, and a few punches thrown during the 48 minutes. The two main bouts were Chamberlain vs. Sam Jones and burly Celtics forward Jim Loscutoff vs. 6-foot Guy Rodgers. In both cases, the smaller man defended himself by swinging a photographer’s stool. Tommy Heinsohn ended up the only player ejected. No one was suspended. Most importantly, in the end, the Celtics won by 15.
<p>Celtics guard Sam Jones grabs a stool to ward off Warrior Wilt Chamberlain during a fourth-period skirmish in Game 5 of the Eastern finals. An iconic photo that captures the heated Boston-Philly rivalry. (Photo by Paul Connell/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)</p> | Boston Globe via Getty Images
The inevitable Game 7 was in Boston and was tense and close all the way, but the key lesson was if you’re facing a player who averages 50 points, it’s good to have Bill Russell. The MVP held Chamberlain to only 22 points for the game, while scoring 19 himself, including five straight free throws during crunch time. Both big men tallied 22 rebounds. With one second remaining, Sam Jones buried a tie-breaking jumper from the top of the key. The Celtics were back in the Finals for the sixth straight year.
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NBA Finals
For the first time since moving from woodsy Minnesota to glitzy Los Angeles, the Lakers made it to the Finals. Their 70 PPG duo was forward-guard tandem Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, still today two of the greatest the NBA has seen. The Lakers were actually in the Garden to witness the dramatic ending of the Eastern Final. They had arrived early, anticipating Finals Game 1 would happen in Boston. They had no way to know that the ending of their own series would be even more nerve-wracking.
Game 1 in Boston went to the home team when the Celtics outscored LA 66-42 in quarters two and three. The Lakers regrouped and took Game 2 by seven points, aided by a large free-throw advantage, 37 of 42 compared to Boston’s 16 of 28.
One you’d like to have back
The series shifted to Los Angeles, and the Lakers got a Hollywood ending as Jerry West lived up to his Mr. Clutch nickname.
Game 4 was a must-win for the Celtics, and they held the Lakers to their lowest total of the series, 115-103. Now tied 2-2 and going home for Game 5, the Celtics felt back in control.
They weren’t. Baylor walked into Boston Garden and delivered a superhuman 61-point Finals-record performance. He shot 22 of 46 from the floor and 17 of 19 at the line with 22 rebounds. Lakers 126, Celtics 121.
Down 3-2 and faced with a do-or-die situation on the road, Sam Jones demonstrated again that his time had come. Sam buried 17 of 27 shots for a game-high 35 points and Boston evened the series, 119-105. The Celtics had displayed grit and will honed by four championships. The Lakers had let their best chance slip away.
Game 7 was excruciatingly close – tied after the first, third and fourth quarters, and with 13 lead changes over the entire contest.
Turning point
Sam Jones scored just two points in the first half of Game 7, but he poured in 20 during the second half and five more in OT. The Celtics wouldn’t have won in 1962 without Sam’s heroics, and he became well-known for always delivering in crunch time.
It was almost over when…
Game 7, tie score, last possession of regulation, the championship on the line. In your driveway and in your dreams, the shot always goes in, but not for LA’s Frank Selvy here.
If that shot had gone in, all of NBA history would’ve been drastically changed. No eight-peat, Lakers would have the most titles now, Russell wouldn’t be 10-0 in Game 7s, and more. Instead, the Celtics survived and won in overtime.
The heroes we needed
Russell scored 30 points (including 14 of 17 free throws) and tied his own Finals record by grabbing 40 rebounds while playing all 53 minutes of Game 7.
Three Celtics had fouled out trying to stop Baylor, so in OT Red turned to little-used Gene Guarilia. The 6-foot-5 forward in his third season played only 6 minutes in the entire series, but he was just scrappy enough to force the tiring Baylor into a couple of misses. Guarilia also snagged an offensive rebound and assisted on a Russell dunk.
Playing on an injured leg, Frank Ramsey still managed to score 23 vital points, including 15 of 16 free throws. Ramsey was always known as a crafty veteran.
The final score was 110-107, with Bob Cousy tricky-dribbling and zigzagging across the court to run out the clock. Banner #5 was secured.
Notable facts and stats
The Celtics became the first NBA team to win four consecutive titles.
Russell played 338 of 341 minutes in the series. He led the Celtics in scoring at 22.9 per game, and rebounding, averaging 27.0, while adding 5.7 assists per game.
Baylor averaged 40.6 points and 17.9 rebounds across the seven games. West added 31.1 points per game.
Banner Years continues Monday with a review of the 1962-63 season and the road to winning Banner #6.
Not a ton happened in this one until the fifth inning. Altoona and Erie combined for just four hits over as many innings. Zyhir Hope turned one of those into an out with his rocket arm in the first, but it was mostly boring until the extra-base hits started flowing.
A leadoff hit for Altoona, but Zyhir Hope gets to the ball quickly and throws a strike to second base to get the out. pic.twitter.com/5FRF9Ux2GY
The Curve struck first, knocking Andrew Sears out of the game with a two-out double. Dariel Fregio took over, and things got worse fast. An RBI single, wild pitch and home run made it 4-0, setting up Sears for the loss. Fregio gave up another homer to start the sixth, pushing Erie’s deficit to five runs.
The SeaWolves got in the board in an exciting way in the bottom half of the inning, though. Hope hit his first home run following the Skubal trade, and it is some easy power. He flicked his bat out for something low and away, and took it for a ride to left-center. His pull-side homers are going to be even more impressive shows of strength.
Zyhir Hope’s first hit in the Tigers farm system is a two-run HR. No. 24 on the year.
Josue Briceno didn’t want people to forget he’s also a big power threat, so he went back-to-back with Hope, crushing a hung slider into oblivion. These are the future middle-of-the-order bats in Detroit, and those homers are two easy reasons to get excited. Briceno was on track to get to Detroit just after Max Clark, but he was slowed down by injury. Hope should be on an accelerated track to join Clark and Riley Greene in the outfield next year.
Unfortunately, the rest of the game was not as fun to watch. Marco Jimenez took over on the mound in the seventh and promptly gave up a solo homer. After an out, the next four batters reached, making it 9-3 in favor of Altoona, and a two-out single brought the Curve into double digits. Sigh. Jimenez does get a bit of a pass since he’s still figuring things out after an injury.
Trevin Michael stopped the bleeding, getting the final out of the seventh and pitching through the eighth. Erie loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth, scoring on an error, but Altoona traded a sixth run for a double play and that was that.
Tanner Kohlepp went 1-2-3 in the ninth, but Erie’s offense only offered a two-out single in the final frame.
Hope: 1-4, HR (1), 2 R, 2 RBI, BB
Briceno: 1-2, HR (7), 2 R, RBI, 2 BB
Sears (L, 2-2): 4.2 IP, ER, 3 H, BB, 5 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 7:05 p.m. ET start on Friday. Altoona leads the series, 2-1.
Fort Wayne TinCaps 3, West Michigan Whitecaps 0 (box)
Fort Wayne and West Michigan combined for just six hits on the day, and the longball was the difference in this one.
The Whitecaps had just one hit. Beau Ankeney doubled in the second; it was nearly a home run but just caught the top of the wall padding to stay in the park. He ended the inning stranded on third. Only two other batters reached base—Woody Hadeen and Luke Shliger—both on walks.
Beau Ankeney rips the ball high off the wall in left – it might have been a home run, but it’s called a double. pic.twitter.com/CyLZyCeXio
It’s a shame because Lucas Elissalt was putting together a pretty nice start. His heater was up to 95 mph and hitters were late on it. His breaking ball might have been even better, drawing plenty of swing-and-miss. Elissalt finished the day with 13 whiffs, the third-most across High-A today.
Lamar King Jr. homered off Elissalt with a man on base in the fifth, giving him the loss, but it was still a good outing with no walks and six strikeouts. Joe Miller got the final three frames. His lone blemish was a solo homer in the seventh.
West Michigan had trouble putting anything together against Fort Wayne’s Carson Montgomery. He only struck out three over six innings, but he also only allowed one hit for a quality start. Carlos Medina was sharp out of the bullpen, going three perfect innings with six strikeouts.
The DSL Tigers 2 squad crushed the DSL Rockies on Thursday, outscoring their opponents 9-0 after giving up a leadoff homer in the first.
Besides the home run, Albert Ramos as sharp for five innings. He worked around three more hits and two walks, striking out three batters before turning things over to the bullpen.
The offense got Ramos the lead back right away, with Eduardo Tusen reaching on an error and Manuel Bolivar hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the first. That’s Bolivar’s seventh of the year, so the $2.3 million international signing bonus is working out well so far. I’d like to see him stateside sooner rather than later, though.
Tusen was another member of Detroit’s international signing class this year, so it’s good to see him producing immediately at the top of the order.
Wagnel Luna tripled in the second, bringing home Jeiker Gudino. Tusen singled in Luna and later scored on a balk. Actually, it was two balks. The DSL is wild, man.
Diego Orro knocked in Jonathan Moya in the third, and Tusen doubled in two more runs in the fifth. Bolivar made it 9-1 right after with his fourth hit of the day.
Edgar Leon closed out the final two innings. He gave up a leadoff single and two walks but got the job done just fine.
Bolivar: 4-4, HR (7), R, 3 RBI
Tusen: 2-4, 2B (16), 3 R, 4 RBI, K
Albert Ramos: 5.0 IP, ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 K, HR
Coming Up Next: Both DSL Tigers teams are in action on Friday. The No. 1 club is on the road against the DSL Angels, and the No. 2 team is on the road agaisnt the DSL Phillies.
NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 04: Heliot Ramos #34 of the New York Yankees looks on before the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Yankee Stadium on August 4, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Yankees got a much-needed offday yesterday, coming off a stretch of 13 games in 13 days. Despite the negative sentiment around the team for much of that span, I’d argue that this stretch went well; the Yankees played for 13 exhausting days in row, largely against strong opponents, with ten of those games on the road, all with their injured list littered with stars. They came out of it 7-6, and with some positiveinjury news coming out during that time to boot. If you can see past the (many) frustrating close losses the Yankees have suffered in the last week or two, maybe, just maybe, there is something bright on the horizon.
We’ve got another tough series coming up, this one with the Braves, which Matt will preview this morning, while Madison recaps a light Thursday of AL action. Also, Nick profiles Don Larsen, born on this day 97 years ago, Peter gives us his Sequence of the Week, featuring some superlative work from a surging Ryan Weathers, and Madison delivers this week’s mailbag.
Today’s Matchup:
New York Yankees vs. Atlanta Braves
Time: 7:05 p.m. EST
TV: YES Network, BravesVision
Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
Questions/Prompts:
1. The Yankees have their big three starters lined up for this series with Atlanta: Fried, Cole, Schlittler. Can they convert that advantage into a series win?
2. After their historic run the last two months, do you think the Red Sox are a bigger threat than the Yankees to rally past the Rays in the AL East?
The “32 in 32” series has begun at the Official NHL site, so it must be August and we must be inching forward in the offseason. With a shorter preseason and training camp — but 84 games now…yay?! — the summer will have an even longer slow window.
Still, some Islanders (and ex-Islanders) bits from the past week follow, plus a curious long-term bet in Pittsburgh.
Islanders News
The Islanders have poached a new assistant GM/head of their AHL affiliate, grabbing Gold from the Bruins organization. Chris Lamoriello remains in the front office but is no longer GM of the AHL team. [Isles | Newsday | Post]
Has it really been 10 years under the new ownership? Jon Ledecky, Mathieu Darche and others look back and ahead. [Newsday]
Kyle Palmieri says his rehab is great and he’s ready for the season, as one does. [Newsday]
An update on Marcus Gidlof, a sort of afterthought inclusion in the Brayden Schenn trade, but one who still might have potential to be a pro in North America. [STLtoday]
Speaking of ex-Isles, Hudson Fasching (latest of the Blue Jackets) has now signd in Sweden. [THN]
And very short-term ex-Isles Mike Reilly had fun in his day with the Cup. [NHL]
Islanders grade: D. While there’s plenty to like about this roster construction, it’s hard not to look at this quiet summer and feel like it’s a missed opportunity — especially while Schaefer remains on his rookie deal.
2027-28 third-jersey vote update:
#IslesNation – Because of the incredible number of jersey submissions, we're expanding the voting to an 8️⃣ jersey bracket.
Feb 25, 2026; Tampa, Florida, USA; New York Yankees infielder George Lombard Jr (96) hits a two-RBI double during the fifth inning against the Washington Nationals at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: Top prospect George Lombard Jr. has just two MLB games under his belt, but he’s looked like he belongs at this level. The new shortstop credits the major-league experience of his father and the general upbringing that has now produced two first round MLB picks, the other his brother Jacob. The other sons-of-MLBers in the Yankee clubhouse, Cody Bellinger (who Lombard met while his father coached with the Dodgers from 2016-20), Ryan Weathers, and Aaron Boone can all empathize with the value add of genetics, and now all Lombard Jr. has to do is keep going.
New York Post | Zack Braziller: Veteran lefthander Carlos Rodón will eventually return to the Yankees’ rotation, forcing the club to keep one of Ryan Weathers or Will Warren in the starting five, and sending the other to the bullpen. Although I think Weathers’ stuff, especially his excellent breaking balls, would play up more in relief, the performance on the field will dictate that decision. Warren simply hasn’t been as good as Weathers over the last six weeks or so, with Will having that one standout performance against the Cubs and not much else to show for it. Weathers, on the other hand, has allowed a single run in his last 20.1 innings.
FanGraphs | Michael Baumann: There’s a lot of things you can say about the state of the Yankee roster, but once again they made one of the very best relief pitchers in baseball appear out of nowhere. Lefty Brett Headrick has become Aaron Boone’s security blanket, deployed against hitters of both handedness with one of the best fastballs and sliders in the game — not quite Mason Miller-level stuff, but not far off. Headrick is in the midst of one of ten or so most dominant relief seasons in franchise history, and that is saying something with this org’s history.
NJ.com | Randy Miller: We close with an update on the injured list. Giancarlo Stanton and the aforementioned Rodón are facing off against each other in simulated ABs, Aaron Judge was re-imaged and can begin light workouts, and Clarke Schmidt is cleared to continue rehabbing after a brief scare earlier this week. There’s some 15-17 wins sitting on the IL right now, and if one or two of those returns can be ahead of schedule, that may be enough to start closing some ground in the division race.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - AUGUST 6: Jaylen Brown #7 of the Philadelphia 76ers talks to the media at Francis J. Myers Recreation Center on August 6, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Spending a decade with the Boston Celtics prepared Jaylen Brown for just about everything.
He now brings that experience to a rebuilt Philadelphia 76ers team seeking its first championship in 43 years.
Fully cognizant of the implications that come with playing in Philadelphia — a long-storied Boston rival — and alongside a star-studded group featuring Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, V. J. Edgecombe and LeBron James, Brown feels prepared for what’s ahead.
That’s all he’s focused on, fully aware of the spotlight his arrival — and James’ — will shine on both him and the Sixers this upcoming season.
“At this point now, I’ll probably ignore a lot of it,” Brown told reporters during his introductory press conference Thursday, per NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Brown, when asked, avoided most Boston-related questions from members of the press. He kept his answers short and measured, offering minimal insight when asked about his relationship with Jayson Tatum and feelings on the trade.
But when the discussion steered toward the pressures that await him in Philadelphia, Brown expressed confidence. The past decade in Boston not only allowed Brown to improve as a player, but also forced him to learn how to handle the pressure that comes with chasing an NBA championship.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – AUGUST 6: (L-R) President of Basketball Operations Mike Gansey of the Philadelphia 76ers, Jaylen Brown #7, and managing partner Josh Harris pose for a picture at Francis J. Myers Recreation Center on August 6, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) | Getty Images
He’s already been through that, taking home both the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals MVP awards in 2024.
It just so happened that Brown’s departure from the Celtics — something that had been rumored for the past seven-ish years — delivered him his next challenge at the perfect time.
“I played in Boston for the last 10 years, and the pressure is high there — it’s Titletown,” Brown continued. “They expect to win every single year, and they’re always looking for someone to blame. Some of those years, it was me. So I’ve been through that. All I come with is my work ethic, my mentality, impact on winning, and that’s just my approach. Nothing else matters.”
Being part of a loaded roster is nothing new to Brown. In 2024, the Celtics brought in Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday to help get them over the hump. And in order to acclimate both Porziņģis and Holiday, Brown understood and accepted the sacrifice required from him. He didn’t complain, nor did he insinuate he was being held back by those around him that season. Brown did his part, averaging nearly three fewer shot attempts than in his prior campaign while embracing the sacrifices required to turn Boston into a championship team.
During his rookie season, Brown, selected third overall in the 2016 NBA Draft, played off the bench and watched Isaiah Thomas guide Boston to the conference finals.
The following season, Brown — in tandem with a then-rookie Tatum — assumed responsibilities as the leaders in Boston with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward sidelined with injuries before the postseason.
In Boston, things didn’t always go according to plan. Brown endured plenty of gutwrenching defeat from losing to the Miami Heat in seven games after turning a 3-1 deficit into a 3-3 tie to this most recent playoff hunt in which he and the Celtics blew a 3-1 advantage to the Sixers. But as he discovered through the highs and lows of playing in one of the most demanding markets in professional sports, each season is a stepping stone of its own. The next one will determine whether or not that next step is toward a championship pursuit or Brown’s next (painful) learning lesson.
“We’re all trying to figure this thing out,” Brown said. “LeBron, he’s active in the group chats. We’re trying to all get on the same page. I think everybody knows how incredible of an opportunity that we have, but we also have to put in the work. So my focus is on that — putting in the work, earning the respect from the city, from the coaching staff, everything. It takes time. I understand how that process of winning works.”
But in terms of preparation, James isn’t the only member of Philadelphia’s locker room with championship pedigree.
We’ve already seen what a motivated, back-against-the-wall JB looks like. Two summers ago, Brown was left off the United States Team for the Paris Summer Olympics. He admitted the snub served as fuel, responding by averaging 22.2 points on 46.3 percent shooting during his fourth All-Star campaign in 2024-25.
This past season, Brown conquered doubt again with his loudest response to date. He guided an underdog Celtics without Tatum, who nursed his ruptured Achilles tendon for the first 62 games of the season, to 56 wins and the No. 2 seed in the East. Boston’s only bump in the road in the regular season was its 0-3 start in October, which became the team’s lone three-game losing streak until the playoffs.
He averaged a career-high 28.7 points, made the mid-range his bread and butter and allowed everyone around him to develop — all while playing the biggest role in transforming Boston from a rebuilding project into a legitimate contender.
Needless to say, Brown is more than qualified for whatever he’ll face in Philadelphia.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - AUGUST 04: Gage Workman #99 of the San Diego Padres gets ready in the batters box against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on August 04, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Padres fans and fans across the country.
The San Diego Padres entered the MLB Trade Deadline with multiple paths in front of them. Padres president of baseball operations and general manager A.J. Preller has been aggressive at past deadlines, but he has had a more complete team. San Diego has struggled on offense throughout the year, but has been playing better recently and put Preller into a position where he had to make a choice. Buy additonal resources to help the 2026 team attempt to get into and make a run in the playoffs. Sell off players with expiring contracts to try to replenish one of the worst farm systems in the league. He had the option to do nothing and let the remainder of the season play out or he could have done a combination of buying and selling to make the 2026 team better, but also address future needs.
Rumors were flying throughout the game that teams like the New York Yankees, Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates would come after All-Star closer Mason Miller, who was acquired at the 2025 Trade Deadline from the Athletics, but Preller seemed reluctant to move the player that cost him Leodalis De Vries. Rumors about Miller began to fade as it became clearer he was not available, so Adrian Morejon became the desired target. Morejon made it clear he did not want to be dealt and Preller again made it known that any team seeking to add the dominant left-handed reliever would have to pay a high price. Michael King was also rumored to be a possible trade candidate as the only rotation piece with any value.
The Padres also had a position player who some teams might have found attractive in Ty France. The first baseman signed a minor league deal with San Diego in the offseason. He plays solid defense and is a former Gold Glove Award winner, but even more appealing is his offensive resurgence. France has found his power stroke and is tied for second on the team in homers with 16. He also has a .288 average and 49 RBI.
Preller decided not to move any of his MLB assets and instead added two of the top starting pitchers on the market in Robbie Ray from the San Francisco Giants and Casey Mize from the Detroit Tigers. Gage Workman a left-handed utility player was also added in the trade with the Tigers. Preller and the Padres paid a price for their additions. Former first-round pick pitcher Kash Mayfield, 17-year-old shortstop Joniel Hernandez, pitcher Miguel Mendez and pitcher Jackson Wolf were all used as currency to make the deadline additions.
Mize made his first start for the Padres against the Arizona Diamondbacks and had a horrible night. He allowed eight runs on nine hits in three-plus innings, but by all accounts, that performance was an anomaly and not the norm from Mize. Workman chipped in with a three-run double in the loss on Wednesday, which was his first hit with San Diego. Padres fans will get their first look at their other new pitcher when San Diego returns to Petco Park to host the Houston Astros. The Friar Faithful will be looking for a similar result to the last time Ray took the mound at Petco when he completed six innings and allowed one run on four hits with one walk and six strikeouts as a member of the Giants.
Now that the deadline has come and gone and decisions have been made, Gaslamp Ball would like to know what you, the readers, think about the performance of Preller and the Padres at the deadline. Results will be post later in the week.
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PHOENIX, ARIZONA - AUGUST 04: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Arizona Diamondbacks talks with Manny Machado #13 of the San Diego Padres during the second inning at Chase Field on August 04, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The San Diego Padres split the series and evened the season series tonight at 5 wins a piece as the Padres bullpen really shut things down.
Kohl Drake was getting almost no swing and miss tonight as his stuff was simply not playing against this Padres lineup. Drake didn’t even have good command tonight as he pitched to a lot of 3 ball counts. Drake was only able to get through 3 2/3 innings tonight needing 80 pitches to do so as he was simply not effective. It honestly felt like he should’ve given up more than the 3 runs he gave up, but some good outfield defense which we will get to later bailed him out on some balls that were smashed.
Phillip Abner struggled over 3 innings, but atleast he was able to give this team 3 innings. Abner threw 52 pitches which Lovullo acknowledged in the post game was probably a little bit above what his limit likely was, however getting those extra outs definitely put this bullpen in a better position heading into the big weekend series against the Dodgers.
Ryan Waldschmidt who consistently has been getting replaced deep in games defensively had 2 phenomenal catches earlier in this game. Both of them crashing into the CF wall and traveling more than 80 feet to catch both. Maybe this will allow him to stay in games?
The Dbacks offense plated a run in the 3rd inning on an RBI single by the hottest catcher in baseball Gabi Moreno who would go on to record 3 hits on the night. The Dbacks were able to load the bases with 2 outs in the inning, but unfortunately Nolan Arenado flew out and the Dbacks offense was unable to score more runs. The red hot Tim Tawa would then single in the 4th inning, and that would be the last base hit for this offense until 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th. Pretty tough to win many games with that little of offensive production. Not much else to report on the offense however it is probably fair to note that the Padres bullpen has really carried this team, so maybe we just chock it up to that.
The Dbacks will now gear up for a weekend series against the Los Angeles Dodgers as they will look to Merrill Kelly to rebound in a big way from his last start. After the series split, the Dbacks will keep just a 1 game lead over the Padres for the final wild card spot as the Phillies won tonight. The Dbacks will square off against the Padres for 3 more games on the final 3 games of the season in San Diego to see who wins the season series, and potentially to decide who gets to go to the playoffs.
Perhaps the only real hero of tonight’s game was Chase Meidroth, who launched two massive home runs against his former team. | (Getty Images)
I guess you can say the White Sox refused to go down without a fight, but the Red Sox wouldn’t die. In a 13-inning game that lasted more than four hours, the White Sox fell short in the finale in Boston, falling victim to a late-night sweep.
Luis Castillo debuted with a much-needed nine-pitch inning and kept the Red Sox quiet again in the second. Ranger Suárez plunked Joey Bart in the second, but that was the only baserunner for the White Sox through two innings.
Suárez went well over the 30-pitch mark in the third inning, with the bullpen up and warming by the end of his frame after 70 total pitches. His nightmare inning started with a walk to Braden Montgomery and a two-run homer well over the Monster by former Red Sox minor leaguer Chase Meidroth.
With two outs, Suárez picked up a pitch clock violation to walk Miguel Vargas. Randal Grichuk and Colson Montgomery had back-to-back singles. Colson’s knock sent both Vargas and Grichuk home, with Grichuk scoring on a throwing error by center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela. Bart would end the inning, but the White Sox had exhausted Suárez and taken a 4-0 lead.
The Red Sox answered in the bottom of the third. With one out, Anthony Seigler walked and came home on a Connor Wong home run. Nick Sogard singled, but Rafaela grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, preventing further damage.
Greg Weissert replaced Suárez for the fourth inning and quickly gave up a single to Brenton Doyle, who then stole second. Doyle got to third when Wong couldn’t squeeze the pitch after Braden struck out. Doyle started the frame by beating out the throw to first, then winning a challenge after stealing second. Moments later, pinch-hitter Sam Antonacci drove in Doyle with a double. Meidroth picked up a walk with Munetaka Murakami looming, prompting another meeting at the mound. Weissert would luck out by striking out both Murakami and Vargas. Thankfully, though, a lead was still intact at 5-2.
Castillo ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth, surrendering three straight hits. Andruw Monasterio doubled, sending Caleb Durbin home. Then Seigler doubled, tying the game.
Andrew Benintendi and Colson started the fifth with back-to-back singles. With two outs, Braden singled, beating out the throw and then getting to second as a plethora of bad throws sent two runs in, making it 7-5, Good Guys.
Bryan Hudson came on to replace Castillo. Rafaela singled with one out, and Wilyer Abreu struck out right after. Rafaela tried to steal second, but Bart threw a dart to second, and Meidroth tagged him out when he stepped off the base, ending the threat and the inning.
Jordan Hicks gave up back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the sixth, allowing another Red Sox run to score. Grant Taylor came in for the final out and shut the Red Sox down.
For the second time in the game, Bart was hit by a pitch with two outs in the seventh. Unfortunately, the newly acquired catcher left the game with a trainer after taking the hit. It was all in vain via a failed bunt from Tristan Peters. Taylor stayed in for the seventh and put two straight batters aboard, one on a walk and the other on a hit-by-pitch. The righthander somehow escaped the jam with a strikeout, keeping the game within one run.
During the eighth inning, the broadcast announced that Bart suffered a fracture in his fifth metacarpal, so see you again soon, Edgar Quero. Two runners got on base, but the White Sox failed to make anything happen. With two outs in the bottom half, Jarren Duran reached on a throwing error. Seigler singled to put two on, driving Taylor out of the game. After an overturned challenge, Drew Romo managed to catch Duran stealing third for a massive out to end the inning.
With the game on the line, Colson picked up a one-out walk and was rewarded second after a balk. Peters picked up the second free pass of the frame with two outs, but Braden hit the ball right to second on the first pitch. Huascar Brazobán stayed in the game to pitch for the bottom of the ninth after coming in for the last batter in the eighth. Wong started the inning with a double and advanced to third on a sac bunt from Sogard. Two outs and two strikes later, the Red Sox tied up the game with a single from Abreu. Will Venable challenged another safe call, and it was overturned, sending the already-stressful game into extras.
Known terrible person Aroldis Chapman gave up a beautiful home run to Meidroth in the top of the tenth, his second two-run homer of the night.
Trent Richards, on for the bottom half, issued a walk to Masataka Yoshida and an RBI double to Monasterio to put the game within one run with only one out. Duran was intentionally walked to load the bases as the bullpen started moving. Seigler’s sac fly sent another run in to tie it 9-9 with two runners still on base. Richards walked yet another hitter to load the bases, but Sogard hit into force out.
With a wild throw and a sac fly, the White Sox reclaimed the lead in the 11th. Rafaela started the bottom half of the inning with a single, and Abreu would tie the game once more at 10-10. Richards walked yet another batter, putting two runners on base with only one out. Jahmai Jones singled to load the bases, putting five players in the infield for the White Sox. A fly out from Monasterio kept the bases loaded, and Richards was finally pulled from the game. Duran ended the inning with a fly out.
Once again, the White Sox took the lead, now in the 12th. Peters singled, and with one out, Antonacci singled to send the ghost runner Romo home. Meidroth snuck one under the glove, prompting Justin Jirschele to send Braden home, but he was thrown out. Murakami was intentionally walked to load the bases with two outs, and Vargas hit into a force out. A sac fly from Rogers tied the game for the fifth time, as we’re in hour four of this game.
The Good Guys couldn’t get it done in the top of the 13th. Erick Fedde came out to try and hold the tie, but four-plus hours of torture finally ended when Durbin walked it off with a single, handing the White Sox a 12-11 loss and a sweep.
Up until Thursday, the only outstanding order of business for Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins was to lock up RFA forward Ville Koivunen for the 2026-27 season.
And, on Thursday, he did indeed get locked up. But it was on terms that almost no one expected.
The Penguins and Koivunen agreed to terms on an eight-year deal worth $4 million annually, the team announced. The long-term contract comes with no trade protection, takes effect in the 2026-27 season, and runs through the end of the 2034-35 season. And because of the new rules regarding contracts under the new CBA that takes effect on Sept. 16, Koivunen could very well be the last NHL player to sign an eight-year deal, as extensions in the future will be capped off at seven years.
When taking a gander at some of the other NHL players signed to eight-year deals, Koivunen doesn't exactly fit the mold. He's played in just 47 NHL games and has two goals and 14 points, which means he is a largely unproven young player who wouldn't typically fetch that term.
However, Dubas pointed to the rapidly changing market, among other factors, as a big reason behind the term.
"There were many factors that led to us going down this path," Dubas said via email with local Penguins' reporters. "But the primary factor was watching the way the market evolved over the season and especially the summer and trying to best plan for the future of the Penguins. We view the contract as a bet – on Ville, his potential, and our belief that he is going to do the work in to reach that potential."
He expanded on this: "The evolution of the market is a key factor, for sure. The way that older forwards who have lower lineup ceilings were paid as free agents and watching the way the restricted free agent market took shape led us to take a different view on how we wanted to handle our own players, for sure."
In other words, the Penguins are betting pretty big on Koivunen here. Sure, the $4 million average annual value isn't the end of the world, but the eight-year term is a big commitment that will take the 23-year-old Koivunen through age 31. It also makes him somewhat waivers-proof, as Pittsburgh currently has 15 forwards on their NHL roster and most certainly will be forced to waive a player or two at this point - barring no further moves - and teams are unlikely to take on Koivunen's contract on the waiver wire.
Even with the term, though, it will be very difficult for this contract to hurt the Penguins in any substantial way:
- If Koivunen plays up to his ceiling potential as a top-six winger, $4 million AAV will look like one of the NHL's most bargain contracts.
- If Koivunen doesn't quite play up to his ceiling potential but becomes an NHL regular, he will pretty much meet the value of his $4 million AAV.
- If Koivunen is a bust, the Penguins will have several options, including a sub-26 buyout window, burying the contract, or trading him somewhere else (given the low enough AAV of the contract).
So, the contract itself isn't necessarily the issue here.
It's the precedent that the contract sets.
Koivunen is the first in a wave of Penguins' prospects who, while trying to make his big break into the NHL, became an RFA in need of a new contract. Again, he is largely unproven, even more so than Egor Chinakhov, who just signed a three-year extension worth $6.25 million annually.
Next summer, goaltender Sergei Murashov, defenseman Owen Pickering, and forwards Rutger McGroarty, Avery Hayes, and Tristan Broz will all be RFAs in need of new contracts. All of them will likely see the NHL at some point this season, and each of them will have varying degrees of NHL experience and varying degrees of potential and production.
Even if none of the above have what amounts to a breakout NHL season, what if they put up similar numbers to Koivunen in a similar NHL sample size? What if they exceed Koivunen's production prior to signing his long-term deal?
Koivunen's eight-year contract only sets a precedent for these players that, should they match or best his NHL sample size up to this point, they'll feel they've earned a similar type of contract. This is especially true in the cases of Murashov, McGroarty, and Pickering, who - like Koivunen - are expected to have ceilings a bit higher than the others.
So, if that precedent is set with this contract, what will McGroarty ask for and expect next season? Murashov? Pickering? Hayes and Broz? What about Ben Kindel and Harrison Brunicke in a few years? The reality is that this contract has set the bar higher for those fringe NHL prospects and even the more surefire NHL talents, and they will expect nothing less than what Koivunen got if they outperform or continue to outperform what he's done so far.
Sure, given the ludicrous amount of cap space the Penguins are set to have in the next several years, they can afford a few Chinakhovs, Koivunens, and other "betting on potential" contracts. But if none of the above players truly break out (Kindel aside) next season but are in the same situation Koivunen found himself in this summer, how many "betting on potential" contracts can the Penguins hand out while still keeping the books open for proven NHL talent and furthering their agenda to take steps toward sustainable contention?
All in all, this contract isn't a huge issue on its own. The big question is how it will change the approach to contracts for the Penguins' homegrown young players moving forward. It's a good thing that Dubas and the organization is willing to bet on their own young talent, and deals like this will look even better if they pan out.
But if they don't, they may have just backed themselves into an obligatory corner that will be difficult to escape.
ATLANTA, GA - AUGUST 06: Atlanta right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. (13) hits a two-run home run during the MLB game between the Miami Marlins and the Atlanta Braves on August 6th, 2026 at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Baseball is a funny game. It’s hard to win a lot. You win seven straight, sweep one team, win a series against another, Martin Perez is on the hill, it’s rainy — you figure, no one can win ‘em all, we’ll get ‘em tomorrow, we’re in a good place, yadda yadda yadda. Well, turns out, the Braves can get ‘em tomorrow and today, as they showed no signs of letting up in an 11-3 rout that granted them a sweep of the Marlins as well as their eighth straight win. The victory extended their longest winning streak of the season so far, while extending the stretch of three or fewer runs given up to six games, and the stretch of four or fewer runs given up to nine.
Overall, this game featured one of the silliest homers you’ll ever see, and then descended into silliness basically everywhere else, as the Braves walloped Miami pitching. In the end, it was a stat-padding laugher, which was kind of a nice change of pace amid a stretch of fairly tight games.
Things were pretty quiet for the first few frames; Matt Olson hit a ringing double in the bottom of the first, but Michael Harris II grounded out. Perez issued a leadoff walk in the second, but a double play ball allowed him to have a 1-2-3 frame.
The first bit of silliness came in the bottom of the second. Mauricio Dubon hit a soft liner to right for a single, and decided to try to stretch it into a double, where he was handily thrown out. That wasn’t all that remarkable in and of itself, except that two batters later, Dominic Smith dunked an even softer liner to left, and was also thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. That was a nice appetizer for the bottom of the third, where, with two outs and a runner on first, this happened:
It wasn’t the ball going off Jose Canseco’s head. It wasn’t even Tim Hudson’s adventure with Bryce Harper. But, nonetheless, it was very silly, and helped repay Ronald Acuña Jr. for at least some of the heinous xwOBA underperformance he’s experienced this season.
And then, perhaps as a result of some skybound deity laughing so hard they cried at the Marlins own-goaling the Braves two runs, the rains came. Said rains lasted for quite a while, knocking both Perez (3 IP, 3/1 K/BB) and Janson Junk (3 IP, 1/1 K/BB, one “homer” allowed) out of the game.
Tyler Kinley had few issues in the fourth. The Braves had a scoring chance in the bottom of the inning, as Mauricio Dubon walked against Tyler Zuber, and eventually stole second and took third on a throwing error. However, Smith grounded out, and Austin Riley stared at a Zuber strike three down the pipe for some reason. Victor Mederos followed Kinley with two quiet frames (2/1 K/BB ratio). John King matched Mederos for one frame, but the game got completely away from the Marlins in the bottom of the sixth.
Olson started the inning by nearly homering on a ball just foul. Five pitches later, he found a changeup just above his ankles and scoop-bliterated it into center to make it 3-0. Harris followed with a double, and Dubon bounced a curve below the zone for a single. Given that King throws with his left hand, the Braves then pinch-hit Lane Thomas for Mike Yastrzemski. Thomas swung at a first-pitch get-me-over slider from King and yanked it down the left-field line for his first hit with his new team, pushing the score to 4-0. The Braves then proceeded to rouse Ozzie Albies from his team-enforced slumber; he drew a walk to re-load the bases. Out went King, in came onetime Braves farmhand Victor Vodnik, and Riley greeted him with a sac fly to center. Two groundballs against Vodnik suggested that the inning end, but Xavier Edwards bobbled the second one, allowing another run to score. Things could’ve gotten even zanier, but Acuña’s hard liner was hit right at the center fielder to end the inning.
Danny Young came in for the seventh and was really the only Brave (other than Jim Jarvis, who went 0-for-4) to not have a good game. Young started his night with a strikeout, but then a walk and a few singles made it 6-2. Young could’ve gotten out of the frame by retiring backup catcher Brian Navaretto, but instead, he hit him on the shin with a sweeper. That forced Dylan Lee into the bases-loaded situation, and Lee got out of it as Otto Lopez weakly lifted an 0-1 changeup to center. I feel for Young, who is not that far removed from Tommy John Surgery, but you figure that the Braves won’t keep him on the roster too much longer if he doesn’t find some feel for his arsenal sooner rather than later.
With the Miami rally thwarted, the game then descended into something more farcical. Walk-triple-single against Vodnik in the bottom the seventh got those two runs right back. Brent Suter made his Braves debut in the eighth, and picked off a batter he walked. Cade Gibson was Miami’s last pitcher-slash-victim, and he gave up Acuña’s second longball of the night. It wasn’t really fielder-aided this time, but it was also just a routine fly ball that happened to float all the way towards the right-field corner and across the very generous wall out there in front of the Chop House. As a result, Acuña now has his second two-homer game of the year… and maybe the most unique one of his career. That may have been a good place to shut this one down, but it was not to be. Olson hit a liner to center that smashed out of the center fielder’s glove; a Harris single then scored Olson, and a Dubon double then scored Harris to make it 11-2. Dubon’s double actually came against Sanoja, who was “punished” for whiffing on Olson’s liner by being forced to pitch and get the final Braves out of the game.
Suter went back out for the ninth and was basically just lobbing it in there to get the game over with. The Marlins ended up collecting three hits on letter-high, sub-90 mph fastballs in the process, but eventually they ran out of BABIP and outs, and the game ended.
It was a fun one in the box score here:
Acuña had the two homers;
Olson would’ve been perfect but for the liner-that-turned-into-an-error, with two walks to go with his homer and double (and “double”);
Harris finished a homer short of the cycle, with his triple somehow his first of the season; and
Dubon went 4-for-4 with a walk and a double.
Meanwhile, Braves pitching had an 8/4 K/BB ratio and avoided any Marlins longballs — by my count, they haven’t allowed a homer in five games now, which is wild (and very helpful).
Stay tuned for tomorrow, when the Braves rumble into Yankee Stadium to face old pal Max Fried.
